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March 28, 2013

网曝门 releases 鈥淔lightPath鈥� for universities 鈥渇rom Kansas to Kenya鈥�

FlightPath, the University of Louisiana at Monroe鈥檚 online advising system is now available to be downloaded and used by 鈥渦niversities from Kansas to Kenya,鈥� as remarked by its lead programmer, 网曝门 Web Application Programmer, Richard Peacock.

FlightPath is used to advise students of course offerings and degree requirements. Students may also check grades, find course descriptions, track their current courses, and see how their credits would fit into another major.

With FlightPath now being offered as an 鈥渙pen source,鈥� anyone in the world may install and adjust the program for their needs.

Peacock said, 鈥淭he license under which FlightPath is released is known as a 鈥楪NU General Public License.鈥� It means that anyone can download and even modify FlightPath, but the code must remain open source.

Users cannot sell FlightPath's source code to anyone else and the source code must always remain free and open.鈥�

鈥淭he open source software movement aligns perfectly with any university鈥檚 goal to advance the cause of education,鈥� he continued.

鈥淲hen code is open source, anyone is legally permitted to investigate the code, learn from it, and improve it if they wish.鈥� 

The 网曝门 Computing Center staff is well aware of the impact of this move as it has sparked collaboration with developers from other universities, adding something new and beneficial to the body of freely-available software.

鈥淲e are in the business of providing high quality education,鈥� said Senior Web Developer, Brian Taylor.

鈥淒eveloping and sharing software as open source is a great example of our commitment to making the most of our limited resources by sharing and working together.鈥�

Peacock says the open source movement is important because it levels the playing field. It allows universities in developing nations to have the same access to the software tools needed to organize, learn, and advance. According to Peacock, similar software can cost over six figures to license.

鈥溚�曝门 currently takes advantage of lots of open source products, including Moodle, Linux, MySQL, and Zimbra, so we know how valuable it is to give back to the community,鈥� he said.

Although anyone can download FlightPath鈥檚 source code, this development is particularly beneficial by allowing current students in technology fields to download FlightPath's code to see how it works, and to see real-world examples of production code. 

鈥淔lightPath is a sophisticated academic advising package that was developed by a 网曝门 graduate and current employee in collaboration with his colleagues 鈥� many of whom were also 网曝门 graduates,鈥� said Taylor.

鈥淩ichard鈥檚 网曝门 Computer Science education helped make this possible.鈥�

FlightPath's source code, as well as add-ons and a live demo are available at http://getflightpath.com

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